5 startling things you can do this year with smart appliances

Samsung has revealed a range of smart home devices that seem futuristic but will actually arrive in Australia this year.

The Korean electronics giant showed off the new products at an event in Singapore this week, with one Australian executive saying that eventually every household appliance would be connected to the internet.

Specific release dates and pricing for Australia were not yet known, but all the devices on show were due to land in the country sometime in 2017. Here’s what Australians can look forward to doing later this year in their homes:

1. Get your fridge to order groceries from Woolworths

Samsung is not the only company to make smart fridges, but in Australia it has a deal with Woolworths that allows its Family Hub 2.0 refrigerators to order groceries to be delivered from the supermarket giant. Company officials declined to comment whether other online grocery suppliers, like Amazon PrimeFresh — which is rumoured to be coming to Australia this year — would also be considered for integration.

2. Tell your robot to clean the house before guests arrive

Users have full control of Samsung’s new robot vacuum cleaner Powerbot VR7000 through a mobile app. This means that you could remotely instruct the robot to clean the house before guests are due to arrive. The vacuum also maps and memorises the layout of the home to optimise its route for future trips.

A Samsung refrigerator equipped with Family Hub 2.0. (Source: Tony Yoo, Business Insider)

3. Ask your fridge what’s to eat

Family Hub 2.0 smart refrigerators respond to voice commands. Rather than asking another human, who has to look it up on the internet anyway, you can just ask the fridge for the weather forecast, the current time or what’s coming up in your calendar. The software can also detect the contents of the fridge and recommend recipes according to the ingredients you have.

Family Hub 2.0 connects to other smart devices in the home too, meaning you can give verbal instructions to the robot vacuum, the air conditioner or your sound system.

Source: mCareWatch

4. Check on your loved ones

Australian company mCareWatch has partnered with Samsung to customise the Gear S3 smartwatch for elderly users that are suffering from medical conditions. The watch relays back the wearer’s position and welfare to family members and carers, and allows the user to send out a “SOS” distress signal. The device can also detect if there is an emergency by detecting the wearer’s movements and monitoring metrics like heart rates.

5. See what you have in your fridge… from anywhere

If you’ve ever been at the supermarket and wondered whether you needed any milk, you might find this useful. With a smart fridge, you can just look up on your phone what you have at home. Family Hub 2.0 features three cameras within the refrigerator that homeowners can use to peek in anytime, anywhere through a mobile app.